Sappi joins Sustainable Apparel Coalition – strengthening its commitment to improving supply chain sustainability

Sappi Limited is pleased to announce that it has joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) and will use the group’s sustainability measurement suite of tools, the Higg Index, to drive environmental and social responsibility throughout its supply chain. With its membership in the SAC, Sappi joins more than 240 global brands, retailers, and manufacturers, as well as government, non-profit environmental organizations, and academic institutions, which are collectively committed to improving supply chain sustainability in the apparel, footwear, and textile industry.

Sappi’s vision is of a thriving world—a better tomorrow than today. Sappi applies its expertise and collective imagination to equipping its people to prosper in the world of tomorrow; establishing shared value initiatives to uplift communities; using natural resources in a responsible manner, valorising waste streams and promoting transparent supply chains. Sappi’s overall objective is to expand and enhance value streams to create sustainable products based on a renewable natural resource—woodfibre.

Sappi Limited CEO Steve Binnie commented: “Sappi’s sustainability strategy builds on our 2020Vision, people and core assets and aims to create real value by evolving our business as we expand our range of products derived from woodfibre, including packaging and speciality papers, woodfibre based bioproducts and importantly dissolving wood pulp (DWP) for the textiles industry. We are pleased to be joining the SAC, confident it will have a positive impact on product sustainability over time.”

Sappi Dissolving Wood Pulp (DWP) Executive Vice President Mohamed Mansoor added: “We believe the SAC can become a model for how industries can collaborate in making a positive impact on value chain performance. Our confidence in the DWP market was confirmed when we launched Verve, our first brand range bolstering our leadership in this market. Sappi Verve represents our commitment to the entire value chain from brand owners through to the cellulosic fibre producers; our commitment to providing a natural fibre responsibly produced, sourced from sustainably managed forests.”

In its relationship with the SAC, Sappi will contribute both data and resources to support the Higg Index, which measures sustainability performance and drives supply chain transparency and decision-making to improve efficiency and sustainability impact. The Higg Index is an indicator-based suite of tools that enables suppliers, manufacturers, brands, and retailers to evaluate materials, products, facilities, and processes based on environmental performance, social labor practices, and product design choices.

“We welcome the addition of Sappi to the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and look forward to their participation in this industry-wide effort in sustainability,” SAC Interim Executive Director Amina Razvi said. “Having Sappi as part of the Coalition widens the scope of our impact within the industry and accelerates the change we’re making towards responsible industry actions.”

About Sappi – A global leader in dissolving wood pulp and paper-based solutions, Sappi Limited (listed and in the Top 40 on the JSE – SAP), is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa; has over 12,000 employees; manufacturing facilities on three continents, in nine countries (ten operations in Europe, three operations in America and five operations in South Africa) and customers in over 150 countries worldwide.

Sappi works closely with customers to provide relevant and sustainable dissolving wood pulp, paper (speciality, packaging and graphic), paper pulp, and biomaterial products and related services and innovations. Our market-leading range of paper products includes: flexible packaging, label, release liner, containerboard and fluting, coated fine papers, casting release papers and in our Southern African region newsprint, uncoated graphic and business papers. These products serve the fashion, FMCG and industrial sectors. Our dissolving wood pulp products are used worldwide by converters to produce viscose fibre, pharmaceutical products as well as a wide range of household and consumer products.

We continue to grow into a profitable and cash-generative diversified business with an exciting future in woodfibre, a renewable resource.
www.sappi.com

About the Sustainable Apparel Coalition: The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an industry-wide group of over 220 leading apparel, footwear, and textile, brands, retailers, suppliers, service providers, trade associations, nonprofits/ NGOs, and academic institutions working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of products around the world. Through multi-stakeholder engagement, the SAC seeks to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability built upon a common approach for measuring and evaluating apparel, footwear, and textile product sustainability performance that spotlights priorities for action and opportunities for technological innovation. The SAC was incorporated as a 501c(6) nonprofit organization and launched the groundbreaking Higg Index suite of tools in 2011. For more information, visit www.apparelcoalition.org

SOURCE Sappi
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